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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Artsy Weekend with the Kid

Lilah spent the weekend with me in White River Junction, VT. It was nice to have an "easy" weekend without lots of homework - now that the big comic book project is finished!

She finally got to attend the Comic Club at my school and I heard her get up to present her character designs a few times. I was very proud of her - there were a lot of kids in that classroom! And her designs were pretty cool too.

Then we headed over to the Montshire Science Museum. There's a new exhibit about human bodies and technology. Very interesting - there was a mechanical arm built from Lego! The interactive exhibits do a great job helping explain what it is like to be blind - build different "canes" to navigate a sidewalk with obstacles, or missing part of your body - try riding a snowboard/wheelchair. There was a very intriguing wheelchair that had been adapted for a DJ!

Here is Lilah is experimenting with how extending the length of a person's arms or legs, and increasing their strength affects the height they can jump or throw a ball. The exhibit uses technology similar to a wii game system - her motions are mimicked by a stick figure character.

The place was packed, but they handle crowds well. We were able to take a workshop that used Gelli-plates for printmaking after listening to a short lecture about an artist who does paintings of holes cut into frozen lakes.

And then I sat and drew the giant stuffed moose...

Back at the apartment, we carved rubber stamps and started making our Valentine cards...

And Lilah tested out a new book I just got.

I'd heard about it during an interview at school with an editor at the publishing house. "The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering" is a great book and I would have bought it just because I love lettering - BUT - what makes it pure genius is that they have built a chalkboard into the front and back covers!!!

So you can fold out the back cover and actually practice while reading the book! Lilah did a bunch of flourishes and letters, but got really excited when she found this section on flowers...